Do Benefits Exist in Marriage?By Alyssa Hale

Married couples claim that they are happier more often than those who are just living together, single, or divorced. In 2012, Michigan State University found that marriage helps protects people against declining happiness when they age. Married couples were even happier than unmarried couples who had children.

The University of Cincinnati took a sample of about 200,000 people from 1997 to 2004 and recorded that the death rate of married men decreased by 80 percent and for married women decreased by 59 percent. People are living longer when they get married most likely because they have someone to depend on who can take care of them in times of sickness, and their spouse gives them a reason to continue living life.

Marriage is safer and decreases the rate for domestic abuse and violence. There is less violence when a couple is married because they are bound, and it is harder to leave the relationship. Marriage makes the relationship worth more so people feel like they can't just treat the other person how ever they want to. Most of the time when someone commits to marriage, they are not just try not to use the other person and then throw them away.

Men generally think that they will have less money when they get married but according to the following statistic this is not the case. Married men have been recorded to make 40 percent more money than unmarried men. This increase in salary can be as much as the salary of a college educated male. It is a positive thing for a man to get married because it gives him a desire to work harder for his family and not just himself which can make him more money. On a personal note this happened to my brother. Once he got married and had two babies, he decided he needed to make more money to support them, so he went back to college in order to get a degree for a higher paying job.

Children live longer healthier lives when their parents get married and stay married. A statistic was recorded that 40 years olds who came from divorced families are 3 times more likely to die from illnesses. This can be true because the children might only have one parent to control them and help them make better decisions health wise for the future which is not as good as having two parents to help them make better decisions. The one parent has to deal with all the stress of bills and teaching the child, so it is not as effective as having two parents who can carry the weight of teaching their kids better health decisions for when they reach 40 years old.